carefully delineated in the state constitutions, and with charters in the shape of self-framed constitutions, there is no reason why the federal experiment should not be elaborated. The great cities themselves cannot be completely centralized. The spirit of local autonomy by districts or wards will come to be more strongly developed, though unity of administration will always be more necessary for the city than for the commonwealth.

If we intend to persist in the trial of self-government, the status of the city in politics must be determined. It is hard now to discover who is to blame for city misgovernment. The habit of legislative interference is so strong that city populations are sure to be thwarted if they try to govern themselves in a responsible manner. The ultimate solution of the problem must lie in the greater centralization of general administrative functions under the state government, and the more complete localization of municipal administrative functions under the city government. The Ohio plan of prohibiting special legislation altogether, is as undesirable as it is impossible. It is law on an arbitrary basis, and refuses to recognize the facts of local and special legislative needs. The Michigan plan of requiring the local choice of local officers may be in the right direction, but it certainly is incomplete. It involves the essentially illogical idea that the Commonwealth shall make the laws, but that the locality shall have some discretion about their enforcement. The experience of France and Germany proves that it is not impossible to unite state and local functions in a single officer, but in that case his responsibility is differentiated. We may at least conclude from our study that any constitutional solution of the city problem must have regard to both sets of evils now existing, those primarily affecting the state and those primarily affecting the locality. The state must be protected from the wastefulness and corruption of special legislation, but at the same time must be protected from anarchy in the

enforcement of its general laws. The city must be protected from state interference in local affairs in both law-making and administration.

THE END.